Chris McCoy:

I think we should eliminate immigration quotas entirely. For two centuries people came to our great nation for any reason, and the only question they were asked when they got here was “How do you spell your name?” I am tired of the draw-bridge syndrome in this nation – where what was good enough for our ancestors isn’t good enough for you.

Me:

When my ancestors got here (the ones who had not been here for 10,000 years) they did not have a safety net designed to protect the less fortunate. We have a better, more caring society today.

But we can’t really care for the entire world’s poor. I don’t think we could absorb all of those who would like to be covered by such a safety net.

Chris:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

Me:

And by the way, all of my ancestors were here before that poem was ever written. It’s a lovely sentiment, but we can’t pay for it.

My previous explanation:

My point was just about timing. The New Colossus, while a lovely sentiment, is just a poem. It is not a founding document of our country. It wasn’t even enscribed on the statue until 1901.

While many folks who came by the statue and through Ellis Island may revere the idea of “bring us your poor”, it is not our nation’s formal invitation for the entire world’s poor to come.

Select one sentence out of context and change the words, and you can come up with about anything. But read it in context and all of the nonsense about “undesirables” just goes away.

And that’s the last time I’ll be explaining this.

Someone saying “it’s a nice sentiment, but why should i have to pay for it, my family was here before that statement was made” APPEARS to be in opposition to it because they do not want to have to deal with the “undesirables.”

Now, perhaps my opinion, like Priya’s, doesn’t matter to you or this site. But I do not have any desire to fight. I don’t have a record of making snipey comments about religion any time something remotely religious is posted on the blog.

I hear a lot of americans bragging about how their ancestors were in the States before other people’s ancestors and the implications of that are very offensive and unjust. Unlike you I care what everyone thinks because that has an effect on the rest of us.

I doubt very many BTB readers are going to find your “explanation” for your statment to be plausible.

So, carrying a driver’s license, in most cases, is not the same as a national identity card that specifically denotes citizenship status.

My “reluctance” to explain to you further than I already have already clarified is based in two facts:

1. You don’t really care what my point was, you just want to fight.

2. I don’t respect your opinion or care what you think.

Your reluctance to explain what your point is leaves a rational person conclude my thoughts are the truth. If you didn’t say your ancestors were here before the poem because you think that makes you better than immigrants with more recent ancestors or entitles you to extra consideration there was no reason for you to make that statement at all.

Timothy Kincaid dismissed out of hand a national ID card.

That is not true. I gave no opinion whatsoever about a national ID card, though I don’t see how it would much differ from a DMV indentification card.

My point was what I said my point was. You are entitled to whatever opinion you care to contrive of it however far from the truth it may be.

Some liberals? Who?

I’ve heard some. But, if you prefer, I’ll rephrase the statement.

The reason this bill is drawing support not only from Republicans but also from a majority of independents and a third of Democrats is not due to its brilliance or its fairness. It’s because it is the only thing on the table besides “more of the same”.

If your point about your ancestors being in the States before the poem was something other than what I suggested how about you explain what it was without some vague reference to “timing”.